Hades
by Faberry's-Knight
Summary: "I guess that broken bones, compared to heartbreak, are really not that bad." Never Back Down meets Fight Club meets The Tomorrow People... I hope. This is endgame Carephen. Not your cup of tea, please don't read. Rated M for later chapters.
1. Frustrations and More Frustrations

**What's up, guys? I know it's probably not the best idea to start yet ANOTHER story with so many currently placed in the back burner, but what can I do? I need to keep my ideas flowing and it's imperative that I see if you guys like it. I'm not going to publish something people don't like.**

**For every Tomorrow People fan, this is my take on the episode Limbo. Obviously took some things from it to make my own little story. Hope you like it.**

**Characters are not mine, except the fighters. This is like Never Back Down meets Fight Club meets Tomorrow People... I think. Enjoy.**

* * *

**Chapter 1: Frustrations and More Frustrations**

_Fuck!_ He screams internally as he slams his clenched fists against the nearest wall. _This is just great, abso-fucking-lutely wonderful. Great job, Stephen, you've managed to shit on yourself by pissing off other people. Great job!_ His eyes land upon the metal band that hangs on his left wrist, a constant reminder and mockery of what he has lost, even if temporarily.

Stephen shakes his head and continues walking, mindlessly passing brick wall after dilapidated brick wall, his jaw and fists clenched tight, his shoulders tensed. _I don't have my powers and Cara has decided that I'm not worth her time. Okay, you know what? Screw them all! If Jedekiah and Cara want to play like this, I'll play... They'll just have to deal with it. _He sees a can on the ground and delivers a mighty kick to it, sending it flying across another row of brick walls. As he's passing an alleyway, Stephen hears muffled grunts and the sound of bodies hitting the floor.

He almost walks by without a second thought, but his body is jacked on anger and frustration, so he steps closer, eyeing a window at the bottom of the dirty brick wall. Stephen kneels in front of it, pretending to tie his shoelaces and he sees a throng of people walking down a set of stairs before walking through a doorway and disappearing from sight.

The teen leans a little bit further trying to see where the doorway leads, and so engrossed he is by this mystery that he doesn't hear the footsteps nearing behind him until they've stopped. "Can I help you?" A voice behind him makes the teen stand up and whirl around in a heartbeat, prepared to fight or flee.

The voice came from a man in his mid-fifties, shorter than Stephen but more robust, the salt-and-pepper of his mustache and beard mixed with ash from the cigarette dangling from his lip. His arms are crossed and he eyes Stephen expectantly, and the dark-haired teen realizes he's waiting for an answer.

"Um, I was just uh- you know, tying my shoe. Don't want to trip and hurt myself." He stutters through his lie unconvincingly.

"Right. What were you really doing, kid?"

Stephen's jaw clenches once more and the sight almost makes the man chuckle. Knowing he'scaught and with no way out in sight, Stephen tells the truth. "I was looking through that window cause I heard noise and I wanted to know what it was."

The man nods once and looks Stephen up and down, pulling up his arms and circling around him, almost as if he were gauging him, looking for something in the teen. After he's done and is apparently satisfied with whatever he has seen, the man motions for Stephen to follow him, which the teen promptly does. They pass the window that Stephen was looking through and several others like it, until they reached a rusty door with a broken exit sign hanging from the space above the threshold. Knocking three times in rapid succession, the man waits until a deep voice inside asks, "password?"

"Per Angusta Ad Augusta." He easily replies.

The door then opens inwards, allowing them both in.

Stephen looks at the plain walls as he follows the man down a set of stairs, the same set of stairs he had seen other people descend while he looked through the window. Passing the doorway, he feels a hand slam on his chest, leaving him winded.

Gingerly, the teen touches his chest, trying to get his breath back as another man stepped in front of him. "Coleman, you know that we don't allow intruders." The younger man that had hit Stephen speaks, his eyes drilling holes on Stephen.

This new man stands a few inches taller than Stephen, with long blonde hair tied back in a ponytail, a tank top stretched across the man's muscled chest as he crosses his thickly corded arms, basketball shorts hanging from his narrow hips. A healing bruise covers most of his left cheek and good portion of the skin surrounding his eye, a few scratches on his neck and several scars littering the rest of his visible skin. His right hand is heavily bandaged and sporting dry and fresh blood spots.

"Riddick, he's no intruder. He's interested in joining our little club. And I think he could be a big hit with some proper training." Coleman speaks in Stephen's defense.

The younger man's, Riddick's, eyes twinkle with malice. "Is he now?" Coleman nods. "Then welcome aboard, newbie. I hope you stick around after you've had your ass handed to you in more ways than you can count."

"Wait, what? No, I was merely curious as to what was going on down here, nothing else." Stephen tries to back out, but Riddick grabs onto his upper arm.

"Here's the deal, newbie: we don't let anyone find out about our little club, but you managed to see some of our members. We can't let you out for we could get in big trouble with the authorities. So it's one of two choices, and I think you're going to like one more than the other: you either join the club and be sworn to secrecy, and maybe later we can negotiate your release, or you don't join now and well... let's just say you wouldn't like this choice. So what's it going to be, newbie?"

Stephen swallows and tries to come up with some kind of plan to get out of there unscathed. The heavy weight of the bracelet on his wrist reminds him once again that he doesn't have the power to take on every person in that building, so that is definitely out.

"What kind of club is it?" He decides it to be a safe question to ask.

"It's a fight club. We teach our members to fight in every manner possible and every one of them has a reason as to why they're here: they've been beaten on before, either at their homes or on the streets, so they want to learn some self-defense techniques; they do other types of martial arts and need to get some more sparring experience, or they need an outlet to their frustrations. Those three are the big ones. Some others just like to fight and they find it a great way to meet other people." Riddick shrugs his muscled shoulders.

Stephen listens intently to what the other man is saying and feels his anger boiling inside him when his mind brings back the reasons as to why he's frustrated. This could work. He nods. "Alright, where do I sign up?"

The other two men smile at him and Riddick waves his hand towards the doorway, inviting him further inside. "This way. We'll get you acquainted with the facility, then maybe tomorrow you can meet everyone properly." The trio walks further inside and Stephen is suddenly greeted by the sight of about forty people standing under the lights of the room. He notices the floors aren't padded but they're clean of any sort of debris.

"This is the main room. This is where the group lessons are taught. Over there by the far corner," he points to the left, where another doorway stretches into another room, "that door leads to training room one. Straight ahead, that's training room two. Up the set of stairs by training room two is training room three. And right over here," he turns to the right where another door heads theopposite of training room one, "is training room four. Every night, the sparring training changes and you get to choose which room you want to go to. On weekends we don't train, we just spar here in the main room. And yes, you have to fight at least twice every day, and three times on the weekends. If severe injury were to occur, you'd be immediately pulled out of the fight and let rest until you're completely healed. Any questions?"

"Yeah, can I come at any time or do you guys have a set schedule?"

"The guards rotate at three am and pm. If you just so happen to get here at any of those times and there's no one at the door, you'll have to wait for them. But otherwise, whatever time you want to come is good. Someone's always here."

"Sweet." Stephen speaks as he sees a beautiful redhead pairing up with an equally beautiful brunette and start sparring.

"The girls you're looking at are Vix and Mikayla. They're two of our best fighters, very skilled. They've each made it to the final round of Hades several times and Vix has won it five times, I believe."

"Hades?" The dark-haired teen turns to the blonde man.

"It's a series of fights spanning three weeks. Each contestant gets a fight a night, until the Final Hades, the final round. Only the best of the best manage to get to that point." Stephen only manages to nod as he continues watching the two women fighting, delivering kicks and punches in quick succession as well as blocking them. "Which reminds me, what's your name again?"

"Oh, I'm Stephen." He reaches his healthy hand out for a shake and so Riddick does, surprising the teen when he tugs on it and twists, to inspect the other man's wrist. Where the bracelet lays.

"That's a nifty bracelet. Where'd you get it?" He questions with an upturned eyebrow.

Stephen's eyes widen at the query and tries to think up a quick lie. "Um, my... uncle... gave it to me as a present. For Christmas."

"That's nice, but it's against safety regulations. You'll have to take it off, or at least put some tape around it to keep from hurting your opponent and yourself too bad." The blonde man explains, letting go of Stephen's hand.

"I'll take care of it." The teen replies.

"Very well, then. As I said, you can start tomorrow, you're not dressed properly to start tonight. You might want to bring some workout gear: shorts, running shoes, a shirt. That last one is optional, of course." Riddick finishes. "You are welcome to stay and see how we do training here, maybe meet some of the members, but you don't have to." He finishes with a smile, showing a tiny chip on his front right tooth.

"I'll do that. I'll see you guys tomorrow." The dark-haired teen says as he turns to walk out of the room only to turn back when another query strikes him. "Oh, another thing, does the password change every day?"

"It doesn't unless someone tries to sneak inside. But in case it happens, give me your number and we'll notify you of any change." Riddick takes out his phone as does Stephen and they exchange numbers, shaking hands once more, then Stephen shakes with Coleman before leaving.

Striding inside his house, Stephen looks around for any sign of his mother. "Mom?" He calls out to her. "I'm home." He states, making his way to the kitchen, where he finds a note taped to the fridge. "Went to work, there's money on the last drawer. See you later, mom." He reads to himself, crumpling up the paper in his hand and throwing it in the trash.

Picking up his backpack, Stephen runs up the stairs and into his room, letting his backpack drop in the floor by his bed. He throws himself upon it at the same time as he hears the distinct sound of someone teleporting into his room.

"I'd like to think you're a little bit more mature about everything that's going on, but given the situation we're currently in, I'm compelled to ask you: are you, by any chance, ignoring me, Stephen?" Cara questions the man on the bed and he can clearly picture her with her arms crossed, staring daggers into his inert body.

Stephen sighs audibly. "Why, hello there, Cara. I've been well, thank you for asking. As for your spoken question, that'd be a no, I'm not ignoring you. I don't have a need to do that, even under the present circumstances. Then why, you may ask, am I not answering your call within seconds of receiving it? For what reason am I not appearing in your presence so I can lick your shoes and beg for your affections just to be slighted once again?"

He turns over onto his back, raising his upper body so he can look at the woman in front of him. His next words drip sarcasm as do his facial features. "That, my dear Cara, is because I can't. My wonderful boss Jedekiah got me this really awesome ULTRA bracelet that I can't take off and renders my powers useless. That means no telekinesis, no teleporting, no telepathy, no nothing. I hope that is good enough a reason for you. If you don't need anything else, I'm sure you can find the hole you just came out off."

"Look, Stephen, I know you're mad because of what happened between us. But you have to understand that we can't ever be anything. I love John, and I know that we share a connection, but I'm not leaving him to explore this with you. If you can't accept that, that's not my problem." She decrets, shaking her head.

"So all you're going to say about this is that you wouldn't have done it had I not been there while you were emotionally needy? Is that it? Am I picking that up correctly?" He snarls at her and she takes a step back.

"Stephen-" she begins but he cuts her off.

"Get out of my house." He orders in a low growl.

"I'll do that in a second, just give me your number so that we can communicate now that you're unable to do so telepathically. I'd like to keep you updated."

"I'm not giving you shit because, face it, without my powers I am of no use to you. And I don't know if I'll ever get this thing off me. So why don't you just leave and tell John you were getting a coffee or something? I'm sure he wouldn't like it if you say you've been to see me. You know how to make it out of my house, don't you?" His voice reveals his anger, and he lets his upper body fall so that he's now resting completely flat in his bed.

Cara lifts her chin defiantly and turns, walking towards his shut door before merging into the time-space continuum and disappearing from his sight.

* * *

**Okay, that's it for Chapter one. Let me know how I'm doing in a review, if you feel like it.**

**"Per Angusta Ad Augusta" is a phrase in Latin that translates roughly into "through troubles to honor." Or something like that. I did the research I just don't remember.**


	2. Alpha Dog

**Alright, for everyone that favorited/followed and reviewed, thank you. You've been rewarded for your patience.**

**For everyone that's waiting for an update on my other stories, fear not. I will finish ALL of them.**

**Without further ado, chapter 2 of Hades.**

* * *

Showing back up at Headquarters, Cara is greeted immediately by the sound of John's voice. "Cara, I've been looking everywhere for you." He wraps his arms around her and kisses her on the lips. "Where've you been?" He asks, not bothered by the fact that she didn't kiss him back.

"Um, I got note of suspicious activity on Warren Ave and thought it could be an outbreak, so I went to check it out. Turns out it was just a stray cat making noise that scared the neighbors." She nods her head, intent on having John believe her fallacy. He looks into her eyes, as if looking for something, but finding nothing that shouldn't be there, he smiles lightly.

"Okay. You still should've told me or Russell and we'd have gone with you, what if it turned out it wasn't a cat and was someone truly dangerous? You could've gotten hurt Cara." He grabs her hands in his, caressing her digits with his thumb.

Shifting her weight onto her left leg, she releases a tiny chuckle. "I can handle myself, John. But you're right, next time I'll give you or Russell a heads up. Even if I do go by myself, you'll know where I'm at. Sounds good?" He nods and they kiss again before the blonde man turns serious once more.

"What do you know of Stephen? Is he still not answering your calls?" He thinks he's managed to look concerned for the young man he's now seeing as his rival for Cara's affections.

"No, he's still not answering." She admits, withholding the fact that she knows why.

"Do you think he's hurt or unable to answer for some reason?" She sees right through him and his faux concern for Stephen, knowing he's asking just because she cares about the dark-haired teen and doesn't want to come across as standoffish or downright uncaring.

"Maybe. I don't know. Maybe he's at ULTRA and Jedekiah has him doing something that is impeding him from talking back. You know what? I'll send Russell to Stephen's place, have him check if he's there." Cara intends for that to stay in her head but apparently says it out loud when John responds.

"Russell's out right now, but don't worry. I'll go. I'll check on Stephen." _And maybe give him a piece of my mind,_ he keeps to himself.

"I don't think it'd be a good idea for you to go and talk to Stephen. We'll wait until Russell gets back so he can go." Cara states.

Yet John has none of it. "Come on, Cara," he pushes, "I'm a grown man and Stephen is almost there himself. I'm just going to show up there and ask him what's going on, nothing else." He closes in on her, looking straight into her eyes. "I love you and I know you love me, because of that I believe you when you say that your relationship with him is nothing more than friends and teammates." He shrugs and continues. "Okay, so you had one slip up because you were feeling lonely, but you came clean about it and I've forgiven you for it. There's nothing else to it. Let's leave that in the past and move forward with our lives." He plants a kiss on her lips and she responds at the same time he breaks it. "I'll check on him. I'll be back in a bit."

Cara nods as John disappears from headquarters.

She sighs and rubs at her forehead worriedly; she'd noticed the way he said 'you' instead of 'you both'. _I just hope that John doesn't pull anything with Stephen. God knows that he's easy to rile up, even more so now with this dilemma between us._ She goes to check on TIM, see if they got any new breakouts.

* * *

Stephen pants as he does sit-ups, his torso covered by a light sheen of sweat. As he curls into his body and brings his shoulders up, he thinks of the reason why he all of a sudden busted out into a workout.

_Cara thinks she can just come in here and demand answers like I owe her something. Sure, we're teammates but I don't owe her any explanation outside of our work. So what if I _were_ choosing to ignore her calls? I don't have to answer her to do my duty, I just have to listen and then do. Even if I needed TIM for the briefing on the breakout of the hour, I can get the same information at ULTRA_.

Stephen continues to work on his abs, his anger and frustration at Cara and Jedekiah making him unconsciously increase his speed, his stomach burning with the exertion. This was his third workout having done a set of seventy five push-ups and a hundred jumping jacks. He gets to his goal of seventy five and stops, resting his elbows on his bent knees.

He stretches out lightly, cooling his body slowly and stands up at the same time as John appears in his room.

"You know, getting buff won't impress Cara." The blonde man begins with a smirk on his face.

"Not doing this to impress her. For all I care, you can keep her. You two are definitely made for each other." Stephen replies nonchalantly as he takes a towel to wipe the sweat off his face and neck.

John laughs and looks at Stephen with a mocking gaze. "Of course I can keep her, dumbass. She wants nothing to do with you outside of lending a hand with breakouts. But me... Dear God, does she want everything to do with me." He taunts the teen.

"I'm sure she does. Why don't you do me a favor and get out of my house? If that's all that you came here to say, then don't waste your breath for she has said everything there is to say." John's eyes darken when he realizes that his taunting is having no effect in the teen, glaring daggers at Stephen. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I got other, more important things I have to do. I'm sure you can show yourself out." He moves to walk out of his room but John's out stretched arm stops him.

"Listen here kid, I know you're mad that she chose me, but did you seriously think you had a _chance_ with her? With _me_ standing opposite you? You deluded yourself into thinking you actually stood a chance against me. Now you've lost but you have to be mature about this and let it the fuck go. She doesn't want you and she never will. Maybe during the time you two were fucking she thought she did, but now she's seeing clearly and knows that she belongs with me." He sneers at the brunette teen. "You have to get that into your head and stop acting like an immature little prick."

"Are you finished? Because as I said, I got better things to do that are of utmost importance and need my complete and total attention. So, excuse me." Stephen moves to slip under John's out stretched arm, but is stopped by John's other arm pushing against his windpipe. He tries to get John off of him by pushing on his shoulders but the blonde man holds steadfast and even pushes harder against the teen's neck.

"You listen to me, little fucker. You're a pain in my ass as I'm sure I'm a thorn on your side but I can't do anything about it, I'm supposed to ride your ass cause I'm the leader. But you?" He pushes his arm harder into Stephen's neck, secretly enjoying the way the teen's face starts to turn red and his veins begin to pop up on his neck and forehead. "You can stop being a pain in my ass, by simply putting a stop to your stupid attempts at romancing Cara. Act as if your night together never happened, I don't want you alone with her, just follow the orders given to you, ignore her if she wants to talk to you alone, and keep out of my way. You don't talk to her unless I'm there. And if you don't, believe me when I say you'll wish you had." He lets go of the dark-haired young man and watches with glee as he falls forward onto his knees, sputtering and breathing heavily.

On a whim, John delivers a merciless kick against Stephen's face, the sound of a grunt and the evidence of blood splashing everywhere making a cruel smile appear on his face. "Just a taste of what's in store for you if anything of what I just told you were to happen. Later, high school." He teleports, the sight of Stephen crumpling to the ground being the last thing he sees before reaching headquarters.

Once back, he's greeted by Cara's voice. "John, you were away for some time. What did he say? And what happened to your leg?"

"Oh, nothing, the blood's not mine. It's just that the kid was furious that you chose me and decided to attack me once he saw me, I kicked him in the face to get him off of me then proceeded to question him as to why he wasn't reporting for duty. He said he just didn't feel like it and was ignoring all of your attempts to contact him because you rejected him. He said he was done working with us and was moving into ULTRA full time. I tried to convince him otherwise, but he was adamant that he didn't want to be around you unless you were with him. There was nothing I could do so I left." He fibs.

Cara is visibly taken aback, could this be something that Stephen hadn't told her? _No,_ she berates herself, _Stephen wouldn't betray us. Wouldn't betray me_. Cara swallows with difficulty when she realizes that, were Stephen pushed beyond his limits and with the right circumstances surrounding a decision, the dark-haired teen just might do that. But there is also the possibility that John may be lying. _But why would John lie? Something doesn't fit in this situation._ She mulls her ideas over in her mind, biting her lip and walking around the open space while John's eyes follow her every move.

"I got to go talk to him. Fix this whole situation." She decides and is about to teleport when John's hand closes over her upper arm.

"I don't think that's a good idea, Cara. If he tried to attack me, I don't even want to imagine what he'd be capable of doing to you. If you want to talk to him, I'll go with you, in case anything happens." John convinces Cara, who seems reluctant but finally nods.

"Okay, let's go." They teleport from headquarters into Stephen's room yet again.

John sees that the blood on the wall has dried after running down it, and smirks internally. Cara looks around and notices how Stephen's shirt from that day is carelessly thrown off to the side. She goes to it and picks it up, observing the lack of blood on the navy-dyed cotton. Passing it off as an attempt to look closer, she brings the fabric up to her nose and inhales deeply, breathing in the sexy scent of Stephen impregnated on it.

They both turn when Stephen's voice breaks the silence, but quickly figure him to be talking to someone else since he doesn't seem to be saying anything to either of them. John and Cara quietly near the open door in order to listen better.

"Hey, do you think I can come in tonight?" Silence stretches after Stephen's query, meaning the person on the other end is answering. "Nothing, it's just that I want to start training immediately." Another bout of silence. "Fine, I was attacked."

Cara bristles up when she hears that, believing Stephen to have been attacked before John showed up and pinning that up as the reason why the dark-haired teen went off the handle once the blonde man popped in.

"Hold up, Riddick, I'm putting you on speaker." A beep then Stephen's phantom voice. "Okay, what were you saying?" The sound of running water and splashing floats to the room, somewhat muffling Riddick's words.

_"I was saying that I'll talk to Vix about getting you started, since you're coming in tonight. She can teach you some really useful techniques to fight people like that. There are several people here that can get you up to speed fast and Vix is one of them. Training under her, I'm sure you'll be able to tackle Hades in no time."_

Cara and John share a disbelieving look, the brunette mouthing 'Hades' to her boyfriend, who only shrugs. He frowns for a second then mouths back one word, his eyes boring holes in hers: 'ULTRA'. Cara shakes her head and John makes a motion with his own, as if saying 'possible'. Both go back to their eavesdropping, the words 'training under her' rubbing Cara the wrong way.

"Yeah, I'd appreciate that. I got nothing better to do anyway." Stephen sounds frustrated and Cara closes her eyes slowly, flooded by feelings of guilt.

"Alright, Jay's still there, he'll recognize you, and the password's the same. See you tonight, Stephen." 'J?' Cara raises her eyebrows to John, who says back, 'Jedekiah', with an ominous look on his face.

Hearing movement and padded footsteps coming their way, they both teleport to someplace in the house before teleporting back to Stephen's room to confront the teen. What greets them is aforementioned teen, still shirtless and with a bruised nose, packing a small bag with a pair of basketball shorts, a towel and a bottle of water.

"Going somewhere, Stephen?" John sees fit to ask as Cara is busy drilling holes into Stephen's sculpted torso.

"None of your business, John. For the moment, I don't answer to you, any of you," he looks pointedly at Cara before letting his steely gaze flit back to John's, "about where I'm going, who I'm with, or anything else."

But John bites back, stepping forward. "You're still a part of my team, ergo, you still answer to me. Now where are you going?" Both men clench their jaws, barely holding back their anger.

Cara decides it's time to step in. "John, Stephen, let's talk calmly. Now Stephen, you're right, you don't have to answer to us, but we're curious. It's just a question. You don't owe us an explanation as to why you're going wherever it is you're going, but just tell us where." She tries to plead with the young man.

Stephen assents. "Okay. I'll tell you where I'm going." He relents, taking his sports bag in one hand.

The brunette smiles, happy to have made some progress. "Great, where are you going?"

"Out." Is all the teen replies before he swipes up a shirt and skillfully tugs it on, then storming past his, currently, former leaders.

John and Cara share another look: his is a frustrated scowl; hers, a guilty glance.

They teleport to the house's front door, which immediately opens to an indifferent looking Stephen, who only frowns at the sight of them. "Not you again. I already told you I'm going out, I left a note for my mother, so I don't see the need of you two bugging me still." He huffs.

"We just want to make sure that you're not getting yourself in trouble. What if your attacker-"

At that, Stephen's temper is unleashed and he snaps. "My attacker is not going to come near me again so long as I keep my word of not getting in his way, so you can rest knowing that." Stephen interrupts, shouldering past them, sparing a hateful glare to John and none to Cara, and striding down the steps to the sidewalk.

"-but you don't know that. He may have said that to give you a heightened sense of safety and peace." Cara's voice bounces off Stephen's back as the two leaders follow behind him.

Stephen turns and gets all up in Cara's face. "And even if he does, I'll be waiting for him. Cause if I step out of the line he's drawn for me, I know he'll come looking for a fight. And when that time comes, I'll be ready." His jaw clenches again and he pivots on his heel and storms away from them, leaving John and Cara to stare after him.

* * *

**Okay, so... we got some John/Stephen drama, and some OOCness from Cara (I wanted to see some actual indecision from her side, instead of the cold, manipulated façade that she has on in the show).**

**Next chap, we got first night training and how will Stephen fare? Shall I have a Stephen/Vix faux romance to make Cara jealous? Questions, questions...**

**As always, I'm open to suggestions, for any of my stories or any new ones. PM me or review on the story you're suggesting for. If I'm not familiar with the fandom you're suggesting, I'll tell you so, let you pick another one.**

**That's all on my front. ****I'll see you on the other side.**


End file.
